Sponsor a child in Malawi - child sponsorship

Sponsor a child in Malawi - child sponsorship

By staff writers

10 Feb 2008

Malawi is one of Africa's poorest countries. It suffers from inadequate education, health and farming infrastructure. 84,000 people die of AIDS each year, and the life expectancy is very low indeed. Almost 40% of Malawi's population is illiterate, and the school drop-out rate is high. It is a country largely made up of farmers, and yet many people cannot get access to sufficient land. Farming is also hampered by both persistent droughts and flooding.

The main challenges facing Malawi's government are the development of a free economy, the improvement of education facilities, the ending of government corruption and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. Its economy depends on international investment that is contingent upon the government's improvement of financial discipline.

ActionAid is a development charity with a strong commitment to working alongside local people and organisations in order to establish better rights for the world's poorest people, and the provision of basic needs that most in the developed world take entirely for granted. More than that, ActionAid are committed to tackling the root causes of poverty and have made education, HIV and AIDS, food, emergencies, women and girls their main priorities.

ActionAid has been working alongside Malawian communities since 1990 to improve access to basic water, health and education facilities. Specifically, ActionAid has invested in the training of health workers (including HIV counsellors) and the provision of health services, which are otherwise too few and far between to be of service to most Malawians.

ActionAid has also focused its efforts on supplying clean, safe water to as many Malawians as possible. This is often combined with the training of farmers in innovative techniques that yield bigger harvests while conserving water and soil usage. ActionAid also invests heavily in the construction of education facilities, and the training of teachers in 'Relfect', ActionAid's hugely successful adult literacy program.

In the 37 years since its inception, ActionAid has reached many millions people in Africa, Asia and the Americas, and it has developed a wealth expertise in fighting poverty. ActionAid partners with local organisations and recognises the need to work with communities on their own terms, and not to impose Western solutions. By getting to know the culture intimately ActionAid workers have the best possible opportunity to effect lasting end to poverty.

Sponsoring a child in Malawi today will cost you only 50 pence per day. Your money will also go towards development efforts in the town in which the child you sponsor lives. This will ensure the most efficient and effective use of your money.

As a child sponsor you will be able arrange a personal visit your child and will be able to communicate with them. You can also look forward to receiving special letters and drawings from them, including a new photograph every two years. Additionally, you get to see where and how your money is being spent by keeping in touch with your child's local ActionAid office, and through regular editions of Common Cause, ActionAid's newsletter.